Apple WWDC 2017: all the highlights from Apple's developer conference

Apple has announced big updates to its iPhone and iPad operating system, a new intelligent speaker for the home, and updates to its MacBook and iMac line-up at its annual developer conference.

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Kickstarting a week of talks and workshops at the Worldwide Developer Conference, in California, CEO Tim Cook and fellow Apple executives revealed what the company has been working on in recent months.

Here's everything the company announced at 2017's WWDC.

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After months of rumours, Apple has finally revealed its competitor to the Amazon Echo and Google Home devices. Building up to the announcement, Apple said it wanted to create an intelligent speaker that can be used in multiple rooms in a house. The device has been called the HomePod and contains an A8 chip – the same chip that's in the iPhone 6.

Its outer shell is a 3D mesh fabric and the 7-inch device has multiple speakers inside. On stage, the firm emphasised that the HomePod has been designed firstly as a speaker, but it is also an intelligent assistant.

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For this, the HomePod works with Siri to answer questions. Apple says it is able to offer music, news, messages, reminders, podcasts, stocks, general knowledge, traffic, weather, sports and also connect to smart home products. The HomePod will be released in December in the UK, US an Australia. In the US its price will be $349.

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As is standard at Apple's WWDC, the firm offered a huge number of improvements to its iPhone and iPad operating system. The new version of iOS 11 has been given a revamp across the vast majority of its apps – you can read all of iOS 11's new features here.

A big theme of the entire Apple event was the improvements made to Apple's voice assistant, Siri. Within the new version of the OS is a new male voice, the ability to translate messages, support for third-party task managers and Federighi said Siri is benefitting from on-device machine learning.

A big change for those who have credit cards tied to Apple Pay accounts will be the ability to use the payment method within Messages. It is possible to send friends money by sending a message.

Apple has also redesigned the lock screen, notification centre, and control centre. With the latter, it is now possible to have more options than just the default settings. There's additionally a new 'Do Not Disturb' feature that can be turned on for those driving cars.

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For the first time in nine years, Apple has given the App Store a redesign. When browsing for new apps to download there will now be a tabbed approach to apps, starting with a 'Today' tab. There are also tabs for 'games' and other categories.

There's also added machine learning APIs for developers to use within their apps. Apple is additionally making a big play on augmented reality, with a developer feature that allows all apps to be able to use AR tech.

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Both Apple's laptop and desktop lines have been given refreshes by Apple at this year's WWDC. Seven devices (including MacBook Pros and iMacs) have all had Intel’s 7th-generation Kaby Lake processors added. All of the devices will be shipping from today and in stores from June 7.

Apple added that the new iMac line has the "best Mac displays ever," at 500 nits. They have higher memory capacities, faster storage, and Thunderbolt 3 capacity. Apple said it has designed the devices to be able to handle virtual reality processing and development. On stage, the firm's executives completed a live VR demonstration, including one featuring Darth Vader.

Although the majority of Mac updates were based on performance, Apple revealed it is working to release one new device by the end of this year. The iMac Pro, which will be available in grey, will have the options of a 8-, 10-, or even 18-core Xeon processor, and up to 128GB of memory. The iMac Pro will start at $4,999 when it goes on sale.

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The original iPad Pro launched in November 2015 and Apple has since released a 9.7-inch version. It's now adding to the lineup with a 10.5-inch iPad Pro and 12.5-inch iPad Pro. Both can be pre-ordered from today and will ship next week.

The new larger model is 20 per cent larger than the previous models and Apple says it has a better screen. It's been boosted with a A10X Fusion processor.

Apple has also introduced a number of new iOS 11 features for the iPad Pro including an expanded dock, with a prediction for the next app you may want to use, a new drag-and-drop feature, more support for the Apple Pencil and new multitasking processes. The firm also confirmed a new 'Files' app would be coming to iPad and support third-party cloud storage services.

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Apple TV

The first thing Cook announced on stage was an update for Apple TV. Amazon Prime is teaming-up with Apple to offer its services through the platform. The streaming channel will come to Apple TV “later this year," Cook said.

Apple Watch

Apple

Last year, Apple released WatchOS 3 and this year it has followed it up with a new watch operating system. One of the biggest updates to WatchOS 4 is a new 'Siri' watch face intended to work as a personal assistant on your wrist. This follows Google Assistant coming to Android Wear 2.0. Powered by machine learning, Apple says its updated digital display will allow for upcoming appointments in diaries, for example.

As with the previous version of Watch OS, Apple has focused on the health capabilities of the Apple Watch by updating the swimming and workouts app. Within this, the firm has partnered with gym equipment providers to allow machines to transmit workout data directly to an Apple Watch. There's also a number of new interactive faces that include Disney characters such as Woody and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story.

Apple's WatchOS 4 will be available from the Autumn (exact date to be confirmed) and a beta version for developers is available today.

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macOS High Sierra

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Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, took to the stage to announce the latest Mac operating system: macOS High Sierra. The Apple exec said the new OS would be available to developers today, a free update would be provided later this year to all users and and a public beta would be available in June.

Within the updates were a number of changes to photos, graphics, VR support for Macs, file structure within the Apple infrastructure and the video standard H.265. One of the most interesting updates, though, comes to the Safari browser. As well as claiming the browser is faster than Google Chrome, Federighi said there will be new privacy improvements to the browser.

A setting to block autoplaying video ads has been added to Safari, for example. This means websites that start playing videos when opened will have these paused. There is also a new feature that stops adverts based on your search history from appearing on websites you visit.